For many years, people have recognized the health benefits of exercising on a regular basis. As a result, a whole industry dedicated to physical fitness and exercise was created and has grown into a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Areas of this industry, which includes personal trainers, fitness clubs, nutrition based products, exercise gear and fitness competitions, tend to complement each other and work hand in hand with each other to help individuals achieve an effective physical fitness regimen. For example, a large number of fitness clubs employ nutritionists and personal trainers that are readily available to advise their fitness club members, wherein the basic services that these personal trainers perform are primarily three fold. First, the trainers develop an exercise regime tailored to individual clients and advise their clients on how to safely and effectively exercise. Second, the trainers track the exercise performance of the client over the duration of the training period and analyze the client's exercise performance data to identify where the client is or is not showing improvements. The trainer may then adjust the exercise regime of the client to maximize the benefit to the client. Third, the trainer provides motivation to their client, which ultimately helps the client to maintain their exercise regime. This not only aids the client in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but also helps the fitness club retain their membership.
As mobile technology becomes more sophisticated and prevalent in the general population, applications that are specific to the health and fitness industry are being developed on a broader basis to help trainers and individuals track and process (such as information validation) the information related to their (or their clients) habits and exercise regimes. For example, as the “smart-phone” market has exploded in popularity, solutions that focus on using the smart-phone as the focal point for collecting and viewing health related information are becoming more readily available. In fact, there are systems currently available that allow a user to physically plug their mobile device into an exercise machine, such as a treadmill, to capture data generated in response to their workout. This date can then be viewed directly on the mobile device or uploaded through a cellular network to a website, where the data can be processed further and/or viewed at a later time.
Unfortunately, in spite of the popularity and sophistication of these devices several major hurdles prevent or discourage the use of these applications. Firstly, as there are no standards for these devices relative to exercise machines not all makes and models of fitness equipment have the capability installed to support data communication with the a mobile phone or device. Secondly, this is also true for the mobile phone or device. Because there are no standards (as mentioned above) and there are many different types of mobile phone or devices available, each of which have their own proprietary communication protocols and operating systems, it is near impossible for fitness equipment manufacturers to be able to provide a universal ‘plug in’ solution that operates with all of the mobile phones or devices available.
Thirdly, there are also exercise tracking systems that require physical data lines to be connected to every exercise machine in order to facilitate the communications between the machine and a master server located inside the fitness facility. This approach is not only costly in that it requires the purchase and installation of upfront capital equipment, but it also requires the maintenance and repair of physical data lines that are in high foot traffic areas near the machines. Although, these systems might be able to employ a wireless data solution, the initial purchase and installation cost along with recurring maintenance cost is still substantial.
Fourthly, machines or electronic devices (exercise and non-exercise related machines) that require a person to interface with the machine/device by traditional touch actions (i.e. member buttons or touch screen interface displays) can often be susceptible to the machine interface failing for numerous reasons.